Paul Fitzpatrick

A state where critics of the state can be criminalized is one where they will not speak. A country where members of the opposition party can be implicated in imaginary crimes is one where they will not run. And a nation where the president can simply demand investigations of those he dislikes is one where free elections cannot take place. When abuses of power are left unchecked, their damage compounds. A president who gets away with such things will attempt to get away with far worse. This is a roadm…

What Trump does have is an extraordinary impairment: a pathologically-tribalized worldview.

…n good, to put into use. Thus, society has no path but to devolve to a place of pure self-interest. A society runs out of leaders — and starts making predators instead — when there is no common good or public interest left.